Dreamstate SoCal 2016 | Gareth Emery

In honor of #TranceGiving, aka Dreamstate SoCal 2016 we want to give festival attendees the opportunity to get to know the talent who will be our “Trancegiving Tour Guides”. Each week, we will feature bio’s of four Dreamstate DJ’s as well as a set from one of their latest events or some recent releases so you can get to know them better. Next in our series is… Gareth Emery!

Gareth Emery:

Gareth Emery’s sound fluidly moves between multiple genres including trance, progressive, and house. He is classically trained in piano and skilled in his ability to read the audience as well as evoke emotion through his inclusion of heavy vocals and emotional lyrics. Prior to making electronic music, the Southampton native initially played guitar in a punk rock band. He first burst on the electronic scene in 2002 under the initials GTR (Gareth Thomas Rhys) with the track “Nervous Breakdown 2002.” However, the record that thrust Emery into the spotlight was “Mistral.” When Paul van Dyk debuted the track, it quickly became a massive trance hit that garnered support from the likes of Armin van Buuren and Tiesto.

Stream GTR – Mistral on YouTube:

Over the years, Emery has released tracks under the names GTR, Digital Blues, Rue de Gar, Runaway, Cupa, and of course Gareth Emery. He has played massive festivals including the Electric Daisy Carnival, Tomorrowland, and Coachella as well as the previous standalone Dreamstate events in San Francisco. Some of his biggest hits include “Concrete Angel,” “U” and “Soldier” which features his sister Roxanne.

Emery is more than just a musician; he has his hands in multiple aspects of the music business. In 2003, he co-owned record label Five AM but left in 2008 to create Garuda Records. Through these labels he has released six compilation albums: “The Five AM Sessions,” “The Podcast Annual,” “The Sound of Garuda,” “The Sound of Garuda: Chapter 2,” “Electric for Life,” and “Electric for Life – Ibiza.” Emery has also released three studio albums: “Northern Lights,” “Drive,” and “100 Reasons to Live,” the latter having been released earlier this year. The first two albums both generated remix albums featuring many artists who will also be playing Dreamstate, including Giuseppe Ottaviani, Cosmic Gate, and MaRLo.

In addition to his albums, Emery started his own podcast, the “Gareth Emery Podcast,” which ran from 2006-2014. He premiered his new podcast “Electric for Life” in 2014, which focuses on multiple genres within the electronic world. You can check it out every Tuesday at Electric for Life. Along with the new podcast, Emery also launched the Electric for Life brand, which encompasses a charity and a live show which has played in Los Angeles, Ibiza, and Miami Beach, among other places.

Stream Gareth Emery – Sansa on YouTube:

Since getting married, moving to Los Angeles, and having a daughter, Emery’s career has evolved. In addition to releasing his third album – which included a song dedicated to his daughter Sansa – Emery has expanded the Electric for Life brand and started a web series called “Make It Happen” to give back to his fans and help aspiring DJs and producers break into the music business. He sees himself as both an artist and a brand and is marketing himself as such while simultaneously making himself more available to help others.

There are multiple reasons why I feel Gareth Emery is a great artist. He has the ability to traverse different genres, to find vocal acts not typically associated with electronic music, and play music in a way that you feel with your entire being. I’m excited to see what he has in store for us at Dreamstate!

Want to find out more about Gareth? Check out our interview during Ultra Music Festival!

Interested in his stand-alone tour? Get tickets HERE!